43 Never apologise

On a large ship in the mist

A large and burly man was standing on the edge of a wall. He had a very distinct devil-like features, he had two horns protruding from the sides of his forehead and stitches running vertically from the top of his face and down his neck.

His hair was red and his skin was pale blue, matching his lips. He was wearing a black coat, black gloves and orange pants.

This man was Gecko Moriah, and he was one of the Seven Royal Warriors of the Seas, alongside the previous Crocodile and Boa Hancock. He had his eyes closed and he could sense the shadows of five people entering the domain of mist. A deep and creepy laughter escaped his mouth as he thought of obtaining more shadows before he headed to Marineford for the upcoming war.

"I hope they are strong, I will need all the strength I can get before the war. Facing Whitebeard's alliance won't be easy, but I should also be able to steal a few strong shadows there too." Gecko Moriah laughed even more as he patiently waited for the incoming ship to arrive near his large island shaped ship.

On the Defying

Izan had relaxed after knowing that he would be able to kill the bastard who was trying to trap him into this mist. He sat down on a chair around a table with Nojiko, Jiutian, Robin and Hancock.

Both Nojiko and Robin were drinking red wine, whereas Jiutian, Izan and Hancock were drinking sake. None of them were frustrated by the situation, as they weren't feeling a threat from it. "I wonder who has this ability, it seems somewhat interesting as it's really annoying to face it." Izan said as he glanced at the mist surrounding Defying.

"Do you mean the mist?" Jiutian asked, when she saw Izan nodding his head, she shook her head in reply as she answered. "This mist doesn't come from an ability of a person." Jiutian was able to sense through the mist domain and the only thing she felt were weak people on a weird looking ship shaped as an island. She explained her thoughts to the rest.

"Humph!" Hancock's eyes narrowed as she coldly spoke. "How dare a scrum like that try to capture Husband in a stupid maze like this! He deserves to be tortured until he dies." Hancock said coldly while hugging Izan as she was seated to his left while Robin sat to Izan's right.

"I still wonder who has the goal in trying to mess with Izan." Robin said in a low voice before she frowned. "Doesn't that mean the person knows about that we are here, but not who we are or our identity as the Heavenly Pirates?"

"Haha, I bet that he or she would have been afraid and beg for forgiveness if they knew that we are the Heavenly Pirates. And they are trying to capture Heavenly Izan." Nojiko laughed for a brief moment as she calmed herself down and sipped the glass of wine.

"We will be arriving there in a couple of hours. Let's either play a game or relax." Izan chuckled as he glanced at Robin who flickered her hand and a golden dagger appeared in it.

The golden dagger was one of the twelve Jiutian gave her. They were made of gold and a stronger material than the Sea-stone, but it could also injure Logia Devil Fruit Users as Enel if it had hit.

Before Hancock could ask about the "game" Izan spoke about, she saw that Robin threw her dagger towards Izan with all her might. A yell escaped Hancock's mouth, yet she couldn't help but he shocked as she saw Izan catching the tip of the daggers with his fingers. Izan was grinning before he threw the dagger towards Jiutian who still kept her usual calm and soft smile.

Hancock stared at the four with wide open eyes as she saw them throwing the dagger towards each other.

"We are training our speed, reflexes and trying to awaken our Observation Haki through this." Izan slowly explained to the dazed Hancock while he threw the dagger in his hand towards Robin with a smile on his face.

Hancock calmed herself down and stared at the dagger being thrown at a fast speed between the four people around the table. "I am ready." Hancock said as she used her senses to focus and she narrowed her eyes slightly.

Nojiko was holding the dagger when Hancock said that she was ready. Nojiko threw the dagger towards Hancock at a slower speed in comparison to how fast she threw it towards Izan and Jiutian.

Hancock managed to catch the dagger perfectly. "Husband, see, I managed to catch the dagger!" Hancock said in a voice filled with happiness and joy. She felt even happier when she saw Izan smiling towards her brightly. Hancock unconsciously threw the dagger towards Izan, a yelp escaped her mouth but she sighed in relief when she saw Izan catching the dagger. Izan laughed as he threw it towards Jiutian as he kept glancing between everyone around the table.

The five of them continued throwing the dagger towards each other while laughing from time to time. It took them time, but they did start throwing the dagger harder and faster at each other as they managed to handle the previous speed.

Five hours passed by swiftly, sadly none of them were able to awaken their Observation Haki, besides Jiutian who already had awakened all three Haki types. Jiutian knew training like this would have a possibility to awaken their Observation Haki, and it did also help them in bettering their reflexes and thinking process. As they wouldn't know when a dagger would be thrown towards their face.

It took Defying five hours before it docked near the humongous ship which was shaped as a floating island.

The moment they arrived, all of them got ready to deal with what would face. There was only silence when they arrived and the mist was everywhere, yet none of them were creeped out by it or felt afraid.

Well, only Hancock acted afraid as she hugged Izan while shivering. "Husband, this place is quite scary, you will keep me safe and warm, right?" Hancock tried to seem pitiful but only ended up getting a few glares from Nojiko and Jiutian while Izan kissed her forehead gently.

"Of course, I will protect all of you." Izan said in a caring voice as he glanced at all of them. He knew that Hancock was acting, but he didn't mind it and let her hug his body. Izan hoped that by doing this and allow her to act as she wished, that Hancock would calm down in the future.

Izan might now know it right now, but he would helplessly sigh in the future while Hancock would continue hugging him at any situation and every scenario...

Izan jumped off Defying with Hancock in his embrace. Nojiko, Jiutian and Robin followed behind him. What greeted the five was only a creepy area with dust, spiderweb and silence.

They walked at a rather slow pace as they seemed to look around and explore this "creepy" ship. "is this a graveyard?" Nojiko asked as she saw some gravestones planted in the ground.

"Seems like so." Robin replied while nodding. She seemed interested at why there were gravestones here and who they belonged to.

As Jiutian walked near a gravestone, s rotten hand suddenly appeared and grabbed Jiutian's ancle.

"Ah?!" Nojiko yelled as she saw the arm coming from the grave. Everyone turned towards Jiutian and stared at the rotten hand, then at Jiutian who didn't seem to be scared at all.

"You dare to touch me!?" Jiutian's cold voice sounded everyone as a katana slowly appeared in her hand, Jiutian flickered her hand slightly before the katana vanished.

Silence, nothing happened for two seconds before the grave beneath Jiutian got pulverized into nothingness. Jiutian seemed to be sad as she put her eyes on Izan, a sad voice sounded out from her mouth. "I am sorry. I won't let this happen again..." Jiutian thought that she had betrayed Izan as someone else touched her. Not even Nojiko, Robin or Hancock had touched Jiutian. She felt that she had been careless and allowed a "maggot" to touch her body which belonged only to Izan.

Hancock obediently left Izan's embrace.

Izan walked in front of Jiutian and pulled her into his chest. "Do never apologise to me in the future." Izan's voice was calm, but there were hints of sadness in it. "I wouldn't have known what to do without you, my life is what I can enjoy because I have you. I don't even want to hear you being sad, because it does ache my heart." Izan spoke slowly as he stroked Jiutian's hair.